Refrigerator with reservoir

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator is disclosed, which is capable of minimizing consumption of power while satisfying refrigerating performance of a freezing compartment by having a reservoir that stores a surplus refrigerant exceeding a required amount to independently cool the freezing compartment. The refrigerator includes a refrigerating compartment, a freezing compartment, and a refrigeration cycle including first and second evaporators respectively corresponding to the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment. The refrigeration cycle includes a first refrigeration cycle to refrigerate both the first and the second evaporators, and a second refrigeration cycle to refrigerate any one of the first and the second evaporators independently, and the second refrigeration cycle includes a bypass path bypassing the other one of the first and the second evaporators, and a reservoir mounted on the bypass path to adjust a circulated refrigerant amount by storing part of the refrigerant being circulated along the second refrigeration cycle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2008-0037374, filed on Apr. 22, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator equipped with a reservoir to prevent unnecessary circulation of refrigerant during an independent cooling mode.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a refrigerator includes a main body divided into a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment for preservation of food stuff, doors opening and closing open parts of the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, and a refrigeration cycle installed at the main body to supply cold air to refrigerate the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment. Recently, some of the refrigerators are dedicatedly equipped with an evaporator in the refrigeration cycle to supply cold air separately to the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment.

An example of such a refrigerator which includes a refrigeration cycle equipped with evaporators separately for the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment is disclosed in KR Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2004-64787. Also, KR Patent No. 10-0687934 suggests a refrigerator equipped with a refrigerant circuit that controls simultaneous cooling and independent cooling between a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment by connecting a freezing compartment evaporator with a refrigerating compartment evaporator through a serial connection.

A refrigeration cycle of this type of refrigerator includes a refrigerant supplying pipe supplying a compressed refrigerant to the freezing compartment evaporator and the refrigerating compartment evaporator, first and second refrigerant pipes diverged from the refrigerant supplying pipe to mount the freezing compartment evaporator and the refrigerating compartment evaporator thereto, respectively, a connection refrigerant pipe connecting an outlet of the first refrigerant pipe to an inlet of the second refrigerant pipe, and a valve disposed between the refrigerant supplying pipe and the first and the second refrigerant pipes to open and close the first and the second refrigerant pipes.

In the above-structured conventional refrigerator, when simultaneous cooling is required, the refrigerant is flown through the first refrigerant pipe constructed by serially connecting the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment. When independent cooling is required, on the other hand, the refrigerant is flown through the second refrigerant pipe which is directly connected to the freezing compartment evaporator. Since the amount of refrigerant being circulated is not adjustable according to the operation type, the amount of refrigerant to be sealed in is determined based on the simultaneous cooling that requires a greater refrigeration load.

However, when performing the independent cooling of the freezing compartment in the conventional refrigerator, the refrigerant is circulated by more than required, thereby increasing a load applied to a compressor. In other words, although only the freezing compartment evaporator requires the refrigerant, the refrigerant sealed by an amount for the simultaneous cooling for both the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment is actually supplied to the freezing compartment evaporator. Accordingly, the compressor is excessively operated, thereby causing waste of power.

SUMMARY

The present embodiments have been made in order to solve the above problems. It is an aspect of the embodiments to provide a refrigerator improved in an operation efficiency, that is, capable of minimizing power consumption while satisfying a refrigerating performance of a freezing compartment, by providing a refrigerant pipe with a reservoir to store therein a surplus refrigerant exceeding an amount required for independent cooling of the freezing compartment during the independent cooling of the freezing compartment, such that a circulated refrigerant amount can be adjusted in accordance with a refrigeration load.

Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing a refrigerator, including a refrigerating compartment, a freezing compartment, and a refrigeration cycle including first and second evaporators respectively corresponding to the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, wherein the refrigeration cycle comprises a first refrigeration cycle to refrigerate both the first and the second evaporators, and a second refrigeration cycle to refrigerate any one of the first and the second evaporators independently, and the second refrigeration cycle comprises a bypass path bypassing the other one of the first and the second evaporators, and a reservoir mounted on the bypass path to adjust a circulated refrigerant amount by storing part of the refrigerant being circulated along the second refrigeration cycle.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing a refrigerator, including: a first refrigerant pipe of a first refrigeration cycle to refrigerate a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment simultaneously; and a second refrigerant pipe of a second refrigeration cycle to refrigerate the freezing compartment independently, the second refrigerant pipe including a reservoir adjusting a circulated refrigerant amount by storing part of the refrigerant.

The refrigerator may further include a capillary tube mounted to the second refrigerant pipe, and a valve controlling operations of the first and the second refrigeration cycles, the reservoir being mounted between the valve and the capillary tube.

The refrigerator may further include a capillary tube mounted to the second refrigerant pipe, and a freezing compartment evaporator generating cold air to be supplied to the freezing compartment, the reservoir being mounted between the capillary tube and the freezing compartment evaporator.

The reservoir may include a cylindrical main body storing refrigerant liquid being circulated, an inflow pipe guiding the refrigerant from the second refrigerant pipe to the main body, and an outflow pipe guiding the refrigerant from the main body to the second refrigerant pipe. The inflow pipe may be configured to be longer than the outflow pipe. The inflow pipe may be disposed in the vicinity of a lower part of the main body, and the outflow pipe may be disposed in the vicinity of an upper part of the main body.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing a refrigerator, including: a refrigerating compartment; a freezing compartment; a first refrigeration path configured to refrigerate the freezing and refrigerating compartments simultaneously in a simultaneous operation; and a second refrigeration path configured to refrigerate the freezing compartment independently in an independent operation, wherein an amount of circulated refrigerant is adjusted according to a type of the operation.

The refrigerator further includes a valve connected between the first refrigeration path and the second refrigeration path, the valve causing the refrigerant to be circulated through one of the first refrigeration path and the second refrigeration path.

The second refrigeration path may include a reservoir to store a portion of the circulated refrigerant.

The second refrigeration path may further include a capillary tube and a freezing compartment evaporator, the reservoir being provided between the capillary tube and the freezing compartment evaporator.

The second refrigeration path may further include a capillary tube and a freezing compartment evaporator, the reservoir being provided between the capillary tube and the valve.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing a refrigeration method for a refrigerator including a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment, including: selectively simultaneously refrigerating the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment in a simultaneous refrigerating operation; independently refrigerating the freezing compartment in an independent refrigerating operation; and adjusting an amount of refrigerant being circulated according to a type of the refrigerating operation.

The refrigeration method may further include storing a portion of the refrigerant in a reservoir during the independent refrigerating operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to the present embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a structural view of a refrigeration cycle according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a structural view of a refrigeration cycle according to another embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a reservoir of the refrigerator according to the present embodiments; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the reservoir of the refrigerator according to the present embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator according to the present embodiments includes a freezing compartment 10 and a refrigerating compartment 20 mounted therein. A freezing compartment evaporator 11 is mounted to a rear side of the freezing compartment 10 refrigerating the freezing compartment 10. A refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 refrigerating the refrigerating compartment 20 and a compressor 100 are mounted to a rear side of the refrigerating compartment 20. In addition, a freezing compartment fan 12 and a refrigerating compartment fan 22 are mounted above the freezing compartment evaporator 11 and the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21, respectively, to supply air refrigerated by the evaporators 11 and 21 respectively into the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 20.

FIGS. 2 and FIG. 3 schematically show the structure of a refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator according to the present embodiments. Referring to the drawings, the refrigeration cycle includes a plurality of the evaporators 11 and 21, the compressor 100 compressing a refrigerant, a condenser 200 condensing refrigerant gas supplied from the compressor 100, a plurality of capillary tubes 41 and 42 decompressing refrigerant liquid supplied from the condenser 200, and a controller (not shown) operating the compressor 100 in accordance with temperatures of the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 20, supplying the refrigerant to the plurality of evaporators 11 and 21, and operating the freezing compartment fan 12 and the refrigerating compartment fan 22 until the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 20 reach a predetermined reference temperature, respectively. Here, the refrigerator further includes a bypass path connected to a valve 30 by one end thereof and to an inlet of one of the evaporators 11 and 21 by the other end thereof, bypassing the other one of the evaporators 11 and 21.

The compressor 100 compresses the refrigerant being circulated among component parts of the refrigerator, such as the condenser 200. To this end, high-pressure high-temperature refrigerant gas, being evaporated by the plurality of evaporators 11 and 21 constituting the refrigerator, is passed into the compressor 100. The refrigerant gas is compressed into the high-pressure high-temperature refrigerant gas by the operation of the compressor 100. The condenser 200 condenses the refrigerant gas into low-pressure low-temperature refrigerant liquid through heat exchange between the refrigerant gas supplied from the compressor 100 and air passing through a surface of the condenser 200. The condenser 200 may be provided with a cooling fan (not shown) to cool heat from the condenser 200. The refrigerant condensed into liquid in the condenser 200 is decompressed as the liquid passes through the plurality of capillary tubes 41 and 42 and flows into the plurality of evaporators 11 and 21. The evaporators 11 and 21 cool ambient air as the refrigerant supplied from the capillary tubes 41 and 42 is evaporated. More particularly, the evaporators 11 and 21 include a freezing compartment evaporator 11 generating cold air supplied to the freezing compartment 10 and a refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 generating cold air supplied to the refrigerating compartment 20, respectively. The evaporators 11 and 21 are arranged in serial. The freezing compartment evaporator 11 has a relatively greater capacity than the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 to have a relatively greater heat transfer area.

The valve 30 is connected to a refrigerant supplying pipe 50 by one end thereof. The other end of the valve 30 is connected to a first refrigerant pipe 51 in connection with the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 and the freezing compartment evaporator 11, and a second refrigerant pipe 52 in connection with only the freezing compartment evaporator 11. The valve 30 is operated under the control of the controller (not shown) transmitted with signals from temperature sensors (not shown) provided to the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 20.

Here, the refrigeration cycle according to an embodiment includes a first refrigeration cycle to simultaneously cool both the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 20, and a second refrigeration cycle to independently cool the freezing compartment 10.

The first refrigeration cycle includes the compressor 100 compressing the refrigerant, the condenser 200 condensing refrigerant gas supplied from the compressor 100, the valve 30 supplying the refrigerant, the first capillary tube 41 decompressing the refrigerant liquid supplied from the condenser 200, and the freezing compartment evaporator 11 and the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 evaporating the refrigerant liquid supplied from the first capillary tube 41. In order to operate the refrigerator in the simultaneous cooling mode, the controller (not shown) opens only a first valve 31 of the valve 30. In this state, the refrigerant exhausted from the condenser 200 is circulated through the first capillary tube 41, the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21, and the freezing compartment evaporator 11, sequentially.

Similarly to the first refrigeration cycle, the second refrigeration cycle includes the compressor 100, the condenser 200, a reservoir 60, the second capillary tube 42, and the freezing compartment evaporator 11. The independent cooling mode of the freezing compartment 10 can be achieved by opening only a second valve 32 of the valve 30 by the controller (not shown). In the independent cooling mode, the refrigerant exhausted from the condenser 200 is circulated sequentially through the reservoir 60 and the second capillary tube 42 mounted on the bypass path, and the freezing compartment evaporator 11, or through the second capillary tube 42 and the reservoir 60 mounted on the bypass path, and the freezing compartment evaporator 11.

As described above, the valve 30 achieves the simultaneous cooling mode and the independent cooling mode of the freezing compartment 10 by controlling a refrigerant circulation path through either of the first and the second refrigeration cycles under the control of the controller (not shown). The valve 30 can open and close the first and the second refrigerant pipes 51 and 52 so that the refrigerant supplied from the refrigerant supplying pipe 50 is supplied to one of the first and the second refrigerant pipes 51 and 52. Here, the first refrigerant pipe 51 is mounted with the first capillary tube 41, provided to convert the refrigerant supplied from the valve 30 into low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant, and the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21, in which the refrigerant passed through the first capillary tube 41 evaporate by absorbing ambient heat. The second refrigerant pipe 52 is mounted on the bypass path, and is provided between the second capillary tube 42 converting the refrigerant supplied from the valve 30 into low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant and the reservoir 60. As shown in FIG. 4, the reservoir 60 includes a main body 61 having a cylindrical form to store therein surplus refrigerant liquid being circulated, an inflow pipe 62 guiding the refrigerant from the second refrigerant pipe 52 to the main body 61, and an outflow pipe 63 guiding the refrigerant from the main body 61 to the second refrigerant pipe 52. As shown in FIG. 2, in addition, the reservoir 60 may be mounted between the valve 30 and the second capillary tube 42. The inflow pipe 62 of the reservoir 60 is connected to the valve 30 while the outflow pipe 63 is connected to the second capillary tube 42. According to another embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the reservoir 60 may be mounted between the second capillary tube 42 and the freezing compartment evaporator 11. In this case, the inflow pipe 62 is connected to the second capillary tube 42 while the outflow pipe 63 is connected to the freezing compartment evaporator 11.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the reservoir according to the embodiments, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the reservoir. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the reservoir 60 is configured to have the inflow pipe 62 longer than the outflow pipe 63. The inflow pipe 62 guiding inflow of the refrigerant is disposed in the vicinity of a lower part of the main body 61. The outflow pipe 63 guiding outflow of the refrigerant is disposed in the vicinity of an upper part of the main body 61. Being structured as described above, the reservoir 60 is capable of storing the surplus refrigerant exceeding an optimum amount for the independent cooling of the freezing compartment 10.

Hereinafter, the refrigerant transfer procedure in the refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator according to the embodiments will be described in detail. First, the refrigerant compressed in the compressor 100 is transferred to the first refrigerant pipe 50 passing through the condenser 200. The refrigerant transferred to the refrigerant supplying pipe 50 can be supplied to either the first refrigerant pipe 51 or the second refrigerant pipe 52 according to the operation of the valve 30. When the valve 30 is controlled by the controller (not shown) to open the first valve 31 only, the refrigerant passed through the valve 30 flows into the compressor 100 by sequentially passing through the first capillary tube 41, the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 and the freezing compartment evaporator 11 along the first refrigerant pipe 51. In this case, the refrigerant passed through the valve 30 passes through the refrigerating compartment evaporator 21 and the freezing compartment evaporator 11 serially.

On the other hand, when the valve 30 opens only the second valve 32 under the control of the controller (not shown), the refrigerant passed through the valve 30 flows into the compressor 100 by sequentially passing through reservoir 60, the second capillary tube 42 and the freezing compartment evaporator 11 along the second refrigerant pipe 52 mounted on the bypass path, as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the refrigerant flows into the compressor 100 by sequentially passing through the second capillary tube 42, the reservoir 60, and the freezing compartment evaporator 11 along the second refrigerant pipe 52 as shown in FIG. 3. Since the surplus refrigerant is stored in the reservoir 60, concentration of the refrigerant being circulated is decreased. Accordingly, the circulated refrigerant amount can be adjusted in accordance with a relatively low refrigeration load of the independent cooling mode of the freezing compartment 10. As a result, power consumption can be minimized while accomplishing a satisfactory cooling performance. When the independent cooling mode is converted to the simultaneous cooling of both the freezing compartment 10 and the refrigerating compartment 20 by the controller (not shown), the refrigerant liquid in the reservoir 60 is decompressed and evaporated. Therefore, the refrigerant can be circulated along the first refrigeration cycle for the simultaneous cooling.

In the alternative, the refrigerating evaporator and the freezing evaporator shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be switched, and the second refrigeration cycle may refrigerate only the refrigerating compartment evaporator and bypass the freezing compartment evaporator.

As can be appreciated from the above description, a refrigerator according to the embodiments is capable of minimizing consumption of power while satisfying refrigerating performance of a freezing compartment by having a reservoir that stores a surplus refrigerant exceeding a required amount to independently cool the freezing compartment during the independent cooling operation of the freezing compartment.

Although embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A refrigerator, comprising: a refrigerating compartment; a freezing compartment; and a refrigeration cycle including first and second evaporators corresponding to the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment, respectively, the refrigeration cycle including a first refrigeration cycle to refrigerate both the first and the second evaporators, and a second refrigeration cycle to refrigerate any one of the first and the second evaporators independently, the second refrigeration cycle including a bypass path bypassing the other one of the first and the second evaporators, and a reservoir mounted on the bypass path to adjust a circulated refrigerant amount by storing part of the refrigerant being circulated along the second refrigeration cycle.
 2. A refrigerator, comprising: a first refrigerant pipe of a first refrigeration cycle to refrigerate a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment simultaneously; and a second refrigerant pipe of a second refrigeration cycle to refrigerate only the freezing compartment independently, the second refrigerant pipe including a reservoir adjusting a circulated refrigerant amount by storing part of the refrigerant being circulated along the second refrigeration cycle.
 3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising a capillary tube mounted to the second refrigerant pipe, and a valve controlling operations of the first and the second refrigeration cycles, the reservoir being mounted between the valve and the capillary tube.
 4. The refrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising a capillary tube mounted to the second refrigerant pipe, and a freezing compartment evaporator generating cold air to be supplied to the freezing compartment, the reservoir being mounted between the capillary tube and the freezing compartment evaporator.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the reservoir includes a cylindrical main body storing refrigerant liquid being circulated, an inflow pipe guiding the refrigerant from the second refrigerant pipe to the main body, and an outflow pipe guiding the refrigerant from the main body to the second refrigerant pipe.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein the inflow pipe is configured to be longer than the outflow pipe.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the inflow pipe is disposed in a vicinity of a lower part of the main body, and the outflow pipe is disposed in the vicinity of an upper part of the main body.
 8. A refrigerator, comprising: a refrigerating compartment; a freezing compartment; a first refrigeration path configured to refrigerate the freezing and refrigerating compartments simultaneously in a simultaneous operation; and a second refrigeration path configured to refrigerate the freezing compartment independently in an independent operation, wherein an amount of circulated refrigerant is adjusted according to a type of the operation.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim 8, further comprising a valve connected between the first refrigeration path and the second refrigeration path, the valve causing the refrigerant to be circulated through one of the first refrigeration path and the second refrigeration path.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the second refrigeration path includes a reservoir to store a portion of the circulated refrigerant.
 11. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein the second refrigeration path further includes a capillary tube and a freezing compartment evaporator, the reservoir being provided between the capillary tube and the freezing compartment evaporator.
 12. The refrigerator according to claim 9, wherein the second refrigeration path further includes a capillary tube and a freezing compartment evaporator, the reservoir being provided between the capillary tube and the valve.
 13. A refrigeration method for a refrigerator including a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment, comprising: selectively simultaneously refrigerating the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment in a simultaneous refrigerating operation; independently refrigerating the freezing compartment in an independent refrigerating operation; and adjusting an amount of refrigerant being circulated according to a type of the refrigerating operation.
 14. The refrigeration method according to claim 13, further comprising storing a portion of the refrigerant in a reservoir during the independent refrigerating operation. 